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Thursday, March 01, 2012

Ron and Rand

Photo is courtesy of Gage Skidmore. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.

It just seems so strange to me that so many of the same people who are so afraid to vote for Ron Paul are ones who were so wild about his son Rand when he ran for Senate just two years ago. I mean, yeah, Ron and Rand are not exactly same on all of the issues, but they are very close on most of the important ones. Whenever someone gives me a reason why they are not going to vote for Ron Paul, they usually say that they like him on economic issues, but not his foreign policy. Some cite the drug issue also. Well, Ron and Rand are very close on these issues. Of course, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Either you are in favor of cutting spending on the military and things like the war on drugs, or you are in favor of borrowing more money to pay for these things and putting the nation into an even deeper debt. Regardless of whose fault it is, that is the situation we find ourselves in. We can dig ourselves out of this hole we are in, but we can’t do it if listen to the scare tactics of the big spenders. There are few problematic issues with Ron Paul--most especially that he supported allowing federal funding for needle exchange programs, but most people don’t know about this.

Here are a few theories I have about why people won’t support Ron, but would support Rand. Firstly, I think people listen to the radio talk show hosts and to certain organizations who are telling them to bad things about Ron Paul. These would include Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, the Family Research Council (Action), and possibly the Christian Coalition. But these same talk show hosts and organizations were much more favorable to Rand. Some people just listen to these guys and do what they say without thinking critically. People tell me the same reasons for not wanting to vote for Ron Paul almost word for word, like as if they were repeating a mantra that they heard over and over again.

There was an email rumor going around that claimed that Ron Paul was somehow associated with George Soros. This is totally ridiculous. Ron Paul and other Republicans were chosen by John Boehner to serve on a particular committee. The Democrats on the committee were chosen by Nancy Pelosi. This happens all the time. The committee was charged with the task of selecting a task force which would prepare a non-binding report on findings about how military defense spending could be reduced without compromising security. Apparently there were some members of this task force who were also members of organizations supported by George Soros. But this email does not say which congressmen were the ones who selected those particular panelists. The email also fails to mention that two of the members of the task force were members of well respected conservative think tank, the CATO institute. (In my opinion, the CATO institute is actually not so hot, but it would be to most of the intended recipients of the email.) And there were also CFR members and at least one Rockefeller Institute member on the panel. (For those of you who don’t know, these are One World Government advocating organizations.) So the panel was not very good, but was that Ron’s fault? The fact that Ron Paul would be chosen for this committee is a pretty good indication that it didn’t have very much power.

Another reason why Rand may be more popular is his message. Even though he is against the war on drugs, unreasonable searches and seizures, and overextending our military, he tended to focus more on populist messages directed at the general public. For example, his campaign platform included term limits, a balanced budget amendment, and not allowing corporations to lobby Congress if they receive more than some much money a year in government contracts. But none of these things are really was makes a Constitutional conservative. Ron Paul mockingly asked why anyone would be so stupid that they would need the government to tell him that he shouldn’t take heroin. Rand took the exact same position on the issue, but said it in a kinder, gentler manner. In my opinion, both of them need to incorporate the 10th Amendment into their answers to questions more often. And not just on the drug issue, but healthcare, entitlements and a lot of other things. I think there needs to be more talk about using our precious tax dollars on maintaining and improving our missile defense system rather than trying to stop nations from having a nuclear bomb. Rand Paul started out saying that Gitmo prisoner should be tried in courts or released, but later changed his tune.

I am interested in readers’ opinions on why people will vote for Rand, but not Ron. What do you think? Is it all just because of media hype or campaign strategy? And what will happen if Rand runs for President in 2016 or 2020 (if we have anything left of our nation by then)? Will the “conservative” talk show hosts turn on Rand to prevent real change?